spacer

noun

spac·​er ˈspā-sər 

plural spacers

: a device or piece used to create or maintain a desired amount of space (as between two parts)

As long as your joints look even, it's more important that you avoid a large grout line at the last tile than worry about sticking to the exact measurement of the spacer.

—Jennifer Stimpson

Stiff spacers of low-expansion materials … may be used to provide a fixed spacing between the end mirrors.

—Arthur L. Schawlow

Use wood shims or spacers where necessary to compensate for wavy ceilings and to make certain the bottom surfaces of all strips are flush.

—Bernard Gladstone

Examples of spacer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Be that as a floor spacer, interior threat, or something in-between. —Morten Stig Jensen, Forbes.com, 31 May 2025

At the pivot point of Game 1, while serving as a spacer in the right corner, Holmgren drilled a catch-and-shoot 3 when Naz Reid wandered too far off of him and then perfectly timed a baseline cut for a dunk. —Anthony Slater, New York Times, 21 May 2025

Add spacers to your Dock or change your login screen? —Stackcommerce Team (sponsored), PC Magazine, 18 Apr. 2025

Enstrom and Timonen would use their stick as a spacer more than a weapon. —Mark Lazerus, The Athletic, 9 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1857, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for spacer

• acer
• baser
• chaser
• pacer
• racer
• tracer
• eraser
• replacer
• radiotracer

Medical Definition

spacer

noun

spac·​er ˈspā-sər 

: a region of chromosomal DNA between genes that is not transcribed into messenger RNA and is of uncertain function